Speeches

U.S. Foreign Policy in the Second Bush Administration

January 26, 2005

Remarks by: Ambassador John Darrell Rood

Greetings to my fellow Rotarians and guests.  I have long been a believer in the principles of service that Rotary promotes.  My grandfather was a Rotarian  -- as well as President of his club -- and I remember going with him to his meeting in Moorhead, Minnesota.  After I became a Rotarian, and – I should add the president of my club – I visited his club and I was very proud to look at the bulletin and see his name as a past president. 

Rotary is where I first learned to appreciate  -- and to enjoy – serving others.  I can honestly say that if it were not for Rotary I would not be here as the United States Ambassador to The Bahamas.

President’s Vision for Second Term

As we sit here today, President Bush is five days into his second term.  He is only the third U.S. president since the 1950’s to serve two full terms.  With his reelection comes the opportunity to firmly put a definitive stamp on this moment in history.  The President is seizing that opportunity.

President Bush has a historic vision for his foreign policy.  The implications stretch for generations into the future.  As he stated in the Inaugural: “It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”

With that simple declaration, the President reaffirmed the greatest traditions of American history.  Presidents from Wilson to Roosevelt, Truman to Kennedy, Nixon to Reagan, have all defended the ideals of freedom and liberty against the threats of fascism, communism, and extremism.  At this moment in history, the clearest divide is between those countries who trust their societies to be free -- and those who do not.  It is the defining struggle of our time.

A Three-Pronged Strategy

The President identified a three-pronged strategy to guide the pursuit of his global vision.

First, we must unite the community of democracies in common purpose.  No one nation can build a safer, better world alone.  Alliances and effective multilateral institutions can multiply the strength of all freedom-loving nations.  Some of our most vital alliances have been tested by the difficulty of recent events.  Some of our allies underestimated how much we had changed -- while we underestimated how much they had not.  The time for those divisions is over.  Together we can energize an international system that is based on our shared values and the rule of law.

We must unite in common cause to solve common problems.  We must collectively insist that Iran and North Korea abandon their nuclear weapons ambitions, and choose instead the path of peace.  We must use the power of our example to encourage economic, social and democratic reform all around the world.  And -- we must implement our shared worldwide development agenda, creating jobs and reducing poverty.

The second prong of our strategy is to strengthen the community of democracies so that all free nations are equal to the work ahead.  The newest and most vulnerable democracies must be given the help they need to deliver on the high hopes of their citizens.

Where disease and poverty threaten to destabilize whole nations and regions, we will spend billions of dollars to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases.  Where natural disasters strike, our government – and to me more importantly, our private citizens – will provide hundreds of millions of dollars in relief.  And where corruption threatens to sap the very foundations of democracy, we will fight to instill the rule of law and create a culture of transparency.

The final prong of our strategy is to spread democracy and freedom throughout the world, to enlarge the community of democracies.  The second half of the last century saw wave after wave of new independent democracies come into being, including here in The Bahamas.  The number of democracies in the world more than tripled.  Today, many young democracies continue to consolidate and deepen their gains, and others are lining up to take their first, tentative steps toward true self-governance.

In recent months we have seen a series of encouraging developments.  Indonesia and Malaysia, two large Muslim-majority countries, passed through peaceful, democratic transfers of power.  The people of Ukraine refused to accept a flawed election and successfully demanded that their political will be honored.  Afghanistan elected its leader in its first-ever free and fair presidential election -- a sign of how far the country has come since the dark days of the Taliban.  And just this month, the people of the Palestinian Territories elected their new leader -- raising hopes for fresh efforts to end the conflict in the Holy Land.  All of these promising developments -- tentative and still facing difficulties -- will give strength and hope to democratic reformers throughout the world.

In just a few days, another important and historic election will take place.  Iraqis will go to the polls to elect a 275-member national legislature, the Transitional National Assembly.  This Assembly will choose a leadership group and begin drafting Iraq’s permanent constitution.  These elections are a major milestone in Iraq’s political evolution.  Admittedly -- security problems remain a major challenge for the Iraqi people.  However, we are steadfast in our commitment to Iraq -- even though we have felt the pain of sacrifice…. with more than 1,300 soldiers lost.  We honor their sacrifice and remember that real progress is being made.

Progress is being made.  Over 160,000 Iraq law enforcement and armed forces personnel are on duty or in training.  Bridges and infrastructure are improved.  Hundreds of new health clinics have opened.  Thousands of schools have been rehabilitated and their teachers trained.  Five million children have been vaccinated against disease.  The difficult task of building a new Iraqi society will not be completed in weeks or months.  But by making resolute, steady progress, by electing a new representative government, that new society will be built.

There will be elections and a new government in Haiti this year.  Few countries are more impacted by Haiti’s successes and failures than the United States and The Bahamas.  We remain committed to helping the Haitian people attain good government.  We support a broad national dialogue in Haiti.  Any party that accepts democratic principles -- and rejects the path of violence -- should have a place at the table.  We call upon the international community and the Interim Government to work in concert on a comprehensive program to disarm, demobilize, and reintegrate -- into productive society -- all irregular armed groups.  We also encourage the building of an effective civilian police force to improve security and to protect the rights, lives and property of all Haitians. 

The United States is delivering on its financial commitment to Haiti.  In 2004 we spent over 113 million dollars on economic development, health care, job creation and disaster relief.  We expect to spend well over 150 million dollars in Haiti during the course of 2005, over 10 million of which will support the election process with initiatives for voter education, infrastructure improvements, and security. 

We encourage all of Haiti’s friends – including The Bahamas -- to do everything they can to support stability and humanitarian improvements in that country.

Even as freedom and liberty spread around the world, some countries continue to fight the tide of history ---and remain outposts of tyranny.  In Cuba, legitimate political dissent can still land you in jail.  The government suppresses basic human rights as it sees fit, leaving its people to suffer without a voice and without power.  We recognize their struggle and look forward to the day when the people of Cuba are again free.

Agenda with The Bahamas

Here in The Bahamas, our foreign policy agenda will be driven along two tracks.

Bilaterally, we will continue to cooperate – as partners -- on our common interests.  We expect to spend over 30 million dollars this year through OPBAT to fund our joint counter-narcotics efforts.  Our law enforcement officials combined to seize several tons of both cocaine and marijuana last year.  They also worked together to break up several narcotics smuggling rings. 

The U.S. Coast Guard and the RBDF will continue to patrol the waters in and around The Bahamas on the lookout for illegal migrants.  Over 5,000 migrants were interdicted at sea and repatriated to their home countries last year.

We also expect to deepen our cooperation this year on the security of commercial shipping.  Freeport is set to become one of the handful of ports in the world to be part of the Department of Energy’s “Megaports” initiative.  This program provides equipment and expertise to scan shipping containers for signs of dangerous radioactive materials.

Maintaining an open boarder for legitimate visitors to the United States is a priority of the President.  We will continue to work to improve the Visa process as well as the efficiencies of our pre-clearance operation.  Even though we have had cutbacks in Pre Clearance personnel, we have restructured the workload and are confident we will be able to serve the travelers departing Nassau and Freeport.

Multilaterally, the hemispheric agenda will be a busy one this year.  The United States will host a regional meeting of foreign ministers in June -- the first time we’ve hosted this meeting in 30 years.  The hemisphere’s heads of government will meet in Argentina in November for the fourth Summit of the Americas.  Both events will drive a hemispheric agenda featuring initiatives on job creation, security, poverty reduction, education, trade, and good governance.  We expect to work closely with the Bahamian Government across this entire range of issues.      

The Judgment of History

Today we stand at a unique moment in history -- but it is not without precedent.  Armed with their principles and determination -- great leaders after the Second World War faced the threat of communism.  They took decisive, sweeping and costly actions to defend freedom -- measures which were controversial and at times unpopular.  Those leaders didn’t know if or when their efforts were going to bear fruit.  In the end it took over 40 years to bring about the collapse of communism.  But the strategy worked.  That group of remarkable leaders did what they believed to be right and confidently waited for history to be the judge.

No one knows for sure if our commitment to promote freedom and democracy will be successful.  But as the President said, “Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul.”  People of all races, religions and creeds want peace and prosperity for their children.  They all want to be empowered with the ability to shape their own lives.  Only democratic freedom can fully satisfy that desire.

To me this is more than rhetoric.  I was in The Bahamas in the summer of 1973 and observed firsthand the call of freedom reaching the people of The Bahamas.  I saw the joy and excitement of a people who were now empowered to shape their lives.  I was touched by what I saw – and I am confident I will be touched again in the years ahead as we see the rise of new democracies.

The challenges we face are daunting.  But in this era of unthinkably destructive weapons, international criminal networks, and instant communications, it is no longer possible to stand idly by and hope for the best.  Countries trapped in tyranny, despair and anger, will continue to produce extremist movements that threaten the safety of the civilized world.  As President Bush said, “The survival of liberty in our own land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.  The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.” 

That freedom gives us hope and supports our optimism that -- no matter how difficult the challenge -- something better is possible.

Thank you.